Research Onion – Saunders’ (2007)

1. Research Philosophy

the research philosophy is the foundation of any study as it describes the set of beliefs the research is built upon. Research philosophy can be described from either an ontological or epistemological point of view.

Ontology is the “what” and “how”

Epistemology, on the other hand, is about “how”

Three of the main research philosophies

Positivism

knowledge exists outside of what’s being studied. In other words, what is being studied can only be done so objectively, and it cannot include opinions or personal viewpoints – the researcher doesn’t interpret – knowledge can only be true, false, or meaningless

Interpretivism

emphasises the influence that social and cultural factors can have on an individual. This view focuses on people’s thoughts and ideas

Pragmatism

approach research from a practical point of view, where knowledge is not fixed, but instead is constantly questioned and interpreted. For this reason, pragmatism consists of an element of researcher involvement and subjectivity, specifically when drawing conclusions based on participants’ responses and decisions. In other words, pragmatism is not committed to (or limited by) one specific philosophy. –  The fact that the experiment can be altered to suit the researcher’s needs is an example of pragmatism – in other words, the outcome of the person doing the thought experiment is more important than the philosophical ideas behind the experiment.

2. Research Approach

Inductive approaches entail generating theories from research, rather than starting a project with a theory as a foundation. Deductive approaches, on the other hand, begin with a theory and aim to build on it (or test it) through research.

Inductive approaches are usually used within qualitative research, while quantitative research tends to reflect a deductive approach, usually informed by positivist philosophy.

? Ask yourself whether your research will build on something that exists, or whether you’ll be investigating something that cannot necessarily be rooted in previous research.

3. Research Strategy

• Experimental research involves manipulating one variable (the independent variable) to observe a change in another variable (the dependent variable) – in other words, to assess the relationship between variables. The purpose of experimental research is to support, refute, or validate a research hypothesis. This research strategy follows the principles of the scientific method and is conducted within a controlled environment or setting (for example, a laboratory). Experimental research aims to test existing theories rather than create new ones, and as such, is deductive in nature. Experimental research aligns with the positivist research philosophy, as it assumes that knowledge can only be studied objectively and in isolation from external factors such as context or culture.
• Action research is conducted in practical settings such as a classroom, a hospital, a workspace, etc – as opposed to controlled environments like a lab. Action research helps to inform researchers of problems or weaknesses related to interactions within the real-world. With action research, there’s a strong focus on the participants (the people involved in the issue being studied, which is why it’s sometimes referred to as “participant action research” or PAR. – The researcher comes with an idea and it is implemented with the help of the community (i.e. the participants). The findings are then discussed with the community to see how to better the intervention. The process is repeated until the intervention works just right for the community. In this way, a practical solution is given to a problem and it is generated by the combination of researcher and community (participant) feedback. – Action research is most commonly adopted in qualitative studies and is rarely seen in quantitative studies. This is because, as you can see in the above examples, action research makes use of language and interactions rather than statistics and numbers.
• A case study is a detailed, in-depth study of a single subject – for example, a person, a group or an institution, or an event, phenomenon or issue. In this type of research, the subject is analysed to gain an in-depth understanding of issues in a real-life setting. The objective here is to gain an in-depth understanding within the context of the study – not (necessarily) to generalise the findings. – when conducting case study research, you take the social context and culture into account, which means that this type of research is (more often than not) qualitative in nature and tends to be inductive.
• Grounded theory let the data inform the development of a new theory, model or framework.the theory you develop is “grounded” in the data. Ground theory is therefore very useful for research into issues that are completely new or under-researched.
  • Grounded theory research is typically qualitative and takes an inductive approach. Typically, this form of research involves identifying commonalities between sets of data, and results are then drawn from completed research without the aim of fitting the findings in with a pre-existing theory or framework.

• Ethnography involves observing people in their natural environments and drawing meaning from their cultural interactions. The objective with ethnography is to capture the subjective experiences of participants, to see the world through their eyes. 
  • It generally reflects an interpretivist research philosophy and involves an inductive, qualitative research approach. However, there are exceptions to this – for example, quantitative ethnography as proposed by David Shafer.

• An archival research strategy draws from materials that already exist, and meaning is then established through a review of this existing data. This method is particularly well-suited to historical research and can make use of materials such as manuscripts and records.

4. Choices

how many data types (qualitative or quantitative) you’ll use in your research. There are three options – mono, mixed, and multi-method.

Mono method means that you’ll only make use of one data type – either qualitative or quantitative.

Mixed-methods use of both quantitative and qualitative data

Multi-method. you’d make use of a wider range of approaches, with more than just a one quantitative and one qualitative approach.

5. Time horizon

how many points in time you plan to collect your data at.

• longitudinal – collect data over multiple points in time. This option is highly beneficial when studying changes and progressions over time.
• Cross-sectional – This is where data is collected at one point in time.

6. Techniques and Procedures

• Decide on what data you’ll collect and what data collection methods you’ll use (for example, will you use a survey? Or perhaps one-on-one interviews?)
• Decide how you’ll go about sampling the population (for example, snowball sampling, random sampling, convenience sampling, etc).
• Determine the type of data analysis you’ll use to answer your research questions (such as content analysis or a statistical analysis like correlation).
• Set up the materials you’ll be using for your study (such as writing up questions for a survey or interview)

Let’s Recap: Research Onion 101

The research onion details the many interrelated choices you’ll need to make when you’re crafting your research methodology. These include:

• Research philosophy – the set of beliefs your research is based on (positivism, interpretivism, pragmatism)
• Research approaches – the broader method you’ll use (inductive, deductive, qualitative and quantitative)
• Research strategies – how you’ll conduct the research (e.g., experimental, action, case study, etc.)
• Choices – how many methods you’ll use (mono method, mixed-method or multi-method)
• Time horizons – the number of points in time at which you’ll collect your data (cross-sectional or longitudinal)
• Techniques and procedures (data collection methods, data analysis techniques, sampling strategies, etc.)

REF.

Phair, D. and Warren, K. (2021). Saunders’ Research Onion: Explained Simply. [online] Grad Coach. Available at: https://gradcoach.com/saunders-research-onion/.

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Thesismind (2019). Analysis of Saunders Research Onion. [online] Thesismind. Available at: https://thesismind.com/analysis-of-saunders-research-onion/.

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